Runic inscription:

-a-ur · [au]k : ul… · ristu : tin [:] (þ)ina · [efti(R) · -au-altar · mak ·] sin · k[uþa]n · [i · uiki :]

... and ... erected this stone after ... his good friend in Vik

Facts

Size: 2.65 x 1.28
Fragile gneiss stone that has partially broken and will easily break even more.

The stone has no clear up or down side.

The runestone is located today on the slope down towards Lake Mälaren in Stavsund's park area, about 300 meters northwest of the manor.

Directly north of and above the runestone is a larger Viking Age burial ground with about 40 graves, 25 of which are mounds.

Ornamentation:

Whoever created the "ornamentation" on U 18 did so based on a simplified overall picture of what a runestone looks like (a snake with runes in its body).

The rune carver lacked knowledge of the tradition of ornamentation and how details should be designed, knowledge that was available during the Viking Age and early Middle Ages in everything from wooden objects, jewelry to the hardest granite.

The choice of stone is also strange.
A block of brittle gneiss that has no clear runestone shape or clear up or down.

Could it be that the runestone was carved in the 15th-17th centuries as a detail in the park? I'm not saying that's the case, but I have a hard time connecting the ornamentation with the Viking era.

Visit the runestone

In the fall of 2021, Malin and I made our way to the runestone, which wasn't exactly easy... we probably went completely the wrong way.

Once we arrived, we were thoroughly disappointed. The stone lay fallen into the mud, partially covered by cheap plastic.
 
 

Part of the runestone's edge that had broken and was now lying on top of the runestone could easily be fitted in for photography.

Runestone U 18 needs to be investigated and cared for!

Links

Upplands runinskrifter > Page 27
(Only Swedish)

Runor >  Riksantikvarieämbetet
(Mostly Swedish)

Google map > Find the runestone

Wikipedia > About Stavsund

 

ALL RUNESTONES

Ekerö municipality

ADELSÖ >
has 5 known runestones

BIRKA >
has fragments from 9 known runestones

MUNSÖ >
has 3 or 4 known runestones

EKERÖ >
has 11 known runestones

FÄRINGSÖ >
has 27 known runestones

LOVÖ >
has 8 known runestones